


Sick Day

by dollseyes



Category: The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22590817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollseyes/pseuds/dollseyes
Summary: Dr. Bright is treated to an invigorating discussion of data management systems. Everyone catches a cold.
Relationships: Samantha Barnes/Joan Bright/Owen Thompson | Agent Green
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Sick Day

Joan dropped her bag just inside the doorway, slipped her shoes off, and immediately went to the kitchen to fix herself a drink.

When she finally made it to the living room, she found both Owen and Sam on opposite sides of the couch. Sam's legs spread across the empty cushion and Owen's too long legs tucked beneath him. Both were on their laptops. Joan walked up to the couch and lifted Sam's legs from the couch. This forced Sam to actually look up at her as she sat down on the couch and dropped Sam's legs back down on top of her own.

"The board meeting went that well, huh?” Sam asked with a nod at the glass in Joan’s hand. 

“I can see why Wadsworth disbanded the board during her time as Director. I just, I hate the bureaucracy of it all.”

“Sorry,” Owen said with a cough.

Joan looked over at him beneath the thick blanket and tissue box. The trash can beside him was full of tissues.

“No, you’re sick. It’s good you stayed home today. Though I hoped you would use the time to get some actual sleep.”

Owen gave her a guilty look before Sam cut in.

“That’s actually my fault. I distracted him with a new project.”

“Well he should have been quarantined and undistractable and  _ asleep _ .”

“Sam’s wrong, it’s my own fault. I came out of quarantine because I was bored and I couldn’t stand to just lie in bed any longer. I wanted to do something productive.”

“Sleeping would have been productive, because it would help you get better. What is it you two are even doing?”

Sam flipped her screen around to show Joan, which was a fairly pointless task because the letters and numbers on the screen meant little more than hieroglyphics. Even less, after the ancient histories class Joan had taken in college as a gen ed.

“What am I looking at?”

“Our new database!” Sam said, leaning forward and swinging her legs off the couch so she cozy up next to Joan and share her screen.

“I worked on the back end while Owen built the user views. We even got most of the data transferred over to it, but I did hack into the AM’s systems to do it. Though, that’s a problem for another day.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Owen offered, and then promptly sneezed into his elbow. The force of it shook the couch. He didn’t catch Joan’s worried and disapproving glance because his attention had turned back to his own screen.

“Only if you are better.”

That comment went ignored as Sam continued.

“So he put together a couple mock ups of applications for the different roles. The medical teams have access to patient files and previous appointments and we have another one for psych evals and even more for the field workers and …” She trailed off when she saw that Joan was watching on, bemused.

“Anyway, we got a lot of work done today. Except now, we have a problem.”

Joan frowned.

“What is the problem?”

“The problem is that Sam is a data hoarder.”

“I am not! The problem is that Owen wants us to just scrub data down to the bare bones. We’ll lose so much information!”

“Superfluous information that just takes up space.”

“We can afford to spend more on memory for the sake of keeping valuable data.”

“But think of what that money” cough “could go to instead.”

“Think of the possible benefits that the data  _ you  _ want wiped can do for an atypical.”

“It’s not wiping. It’s consolidating. And we aren’t using it anyways.”

“But we could! You don’t know what will be useful in ten years.”

“We need to think about what is useful now. We need to be able to actually use the data, sort it and query it to figure out what is going on.”

Joan placed a hand on each of their screens to stop the discussion.

“Both of you, stop. You know that as much as I love both of you, this is going over my head and it’s been a long day. Are these ideas mutually exclusive?”

Sam sent a pointed glare at Owen across the couch.

Owen made to answer, but was racked with a coughing fit before he could make out any words.

“They are not. It is feasible to do both the data lake Sam wants, and my data warehouse.”

“Then I am certain we can find room in the budget. Because you both have valid points.”

Both of them sighed.

Joan felt even more exhausted after the debate than after the board meeting. She loved them both so much, and while she knew that they liked each other well enough, at least for Joan’s sake, she knew that even on the things they had in common, like their love of data in all its forms, they always butted heads. It never got bad, but there was always enough lingering tension that Joan could feel it clinging to her skin after each confrontation.

Neither of them liked to argue in general either, and it seemed like that was most of what they did. Owen was normally the diplomat, confident, but willing to bend. Sam didn’t like to risk confrontations, because they occasionally triggered her anxiety. Luckily that had never happened when she argued with Owen. Joan didn’t know what she would do if being with both of them caused that kind of stress. However, Sam seemed to know that any fight with Owen was safe, inherently more of a competition than an actual fight.

Joan rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Okay, you two look like you are still too wired for bed, but I am bone tired, so I’m going upstairs and I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay, goodnight.”

Sam looked away from her screen to press a kiss to Joan’s lips. Owen also turned his head towards hers, but Joan put her hand up.

“No, no, no. Sick boyfriends do not get kisses until they get better.”

Owen stuck out his lip in a pout.

“If I get a kiss, maybe I’ll get better.”

Joan caved probably a little too easily and pressed her lips quickly against his.

“There, now you have to get better. I’m going to go drink hand sanitizer. I think the AM would fall apart if we were both sick and had to miss even a day.”

Owen chuckled, but that turned into more coughing.

When Joan came down the next morning, she found both Owen and Sam curled up on the couch underneath the blanket.

A calmness settled over her, washing away the doubt the night before had brought. Even if Joan had initially been the only thing uniting them, that was no longer true. Perhaps she shouldn’t worry about their bickering, perhaps she should recognize it more for what it was: familiarity, comfort. For both of them.

The coffee machine beeped and woke them.

“Morning Joan.”

“Sleep well, Owen?”

He had a flush to his face, whether from blushing or a remnant of the light fever he had the night before, Joan couldn’t distinguish.

Sam sat up as well.

“Good morning.”

Her voice was hoarse, like she had to fight to get the words up through her throat.

“Oh no, not you too.”

Sam had the same indeterminate flush.

“I thought we would test your theory.”

“My theory?”

This time they both actually blushed, furiously.

Her words the night before rushed back to her.

“Oh? And did it have the desired outcome?”

“No. I think he just spread it.”

“Yes, well no one could have predicted that,” Joan said, bemused.

“Maybe it has to be your kiss,” Owen offered, feigning innocence. Sam cast him a conspiratory glance and they both stood from the couch, making their way over towards her in the kitchen.

“No, definitely not.”

They each managed to get a kiss on her cheek before she twisted out.

“I’m going to be late to work,” she protested.

“The AM can wait,” Owen said, and then seemed to notice how heretical the words sounded coming from his mouth.

The next day, both Director Green and Director Barnes returned to work, implementing their new database. Doctor Bright, however, had to take a sick day.

**Author's Note:**

> Today in my data science class there was a really boring discussion and so I wrote this in my head to keep myself engaged. Then I wrote it for you all. For the TBS discord.


End file.
